Ingenious Inkling

Some 52Q Catch-up

It's been a while since I worked on my 52Q Project, so today I took some time to finish several cards.

Question 10 - Name 5 Movies That Inspire You Creatively?

 

The photo is from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Question #13 - what was my worst (or best?!) hairstyle experience to date?

This was the haircut that was my transition moving from long, straight hair to the eventual short hair that I still embrace today.  Not a good look.

Question #14 - What is the last good book you read?

I received this book as a Christmas present from my dear friend Bonnie ~ Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.  It is a book written in list form, so I could read it in bits and pieces before going to bed.  It made me laugh ... it made me cry ... I loved it.

Slow & Steady

I received an e-mail from Hilary in Mesa, AZ asking for more ideas on how to use the K&Company Actopus to Zelephant line designed by Jenn Ski.  I decided to combine the cardstock die cut elements and papers with this weeks CPS Sketch #118 to create a father's day card for my ever-persistent, hard-working, turtle-loving brother.

 

I love the earth-element designs of the paper in this set (these look like wood grain and marble).  I created a little road using Deep Pool ribbon from Paper Source.  The dust he's stirring up as he noses to the finish line is from Flourishes 3 by Rhonna Farrer for Autumn Leaves stamped in ColorBox Chalk Pumpkin Spice.  I finished with a little butterfly from the same Die Cut set.

Azucar Spring

It finally feels like Spring has arrived in Iowa.  We had nice rains this week, which really made the plants happy.  I've been enjoying all of the variety of colors in my yard.  The rains almost finished the peonies, but there are still bursts of beautiful colors.

 

I also bought a vining cherry tomato plant at the farmers' market yesterday and am looking forward to fresh caprese salad in a month or so.

 

The Japanese iris have also started to bloom (please ignore the garage that has got to be re-painted this summer ... although the aged paint does make sort of a cool background for the flowers).

 

I've also added some floral containers around the house for additional bursts of color.  I love the contrasts of size and color in this pot.

 

Here's a picture of husband Rod & I posing with another pot of flowers when my Dad was here last weekend.

 

I've also started my annual Spring tradition of bringing fresh flowers into the house.  I love them in this vase, which inspired this card.

 

Lastly, the art by Taya Hubbard that we purchased in Sedona arrived and is now hanging in the bedroom.  It really ties all of the colors in the room together and I love the cool dimension, texture and feel of the piece (yes, I love art that I can touch).  It is called Azucar, which is Spanish for sugar.

 

Enjoy the day!

Musical Father's Day

This week's SCS Featured Stamper is the fabulous Rox, the Queen of the SCS Sketch Challenge.  My card is inspired by her Piano Music card.

 

I replaced her musical stamping with a piece of vintage sheet music.  The sentiment from Northwoods was stamped in black India ink, clear embossed, and swiped with a paintbrush and Golden Wheat Shimmerz for a bit of sparkle.  I also changed the colors and added a scrap of Graphic45 DP to the layout.

Book Cover Inspired Holiday Tree

I've always been one to judge books by their covers.  Sometimes I love the book cover more than the book itself.

To honor the tradition of great Summer reads,this week's SCS Inspiration Challenge is to create a card inspired by a favorite book cover.  I found a wonderful Book Cover Archive to provide inspiration.  My card is inspired by the cover of The Ecco Book of Christmas Stories.

 

I created my holiday tree design using word stickers from 7 Gypsies.  I also liked the look of the white-on-red title at the bottom of the cover, so I stamped by SU Heard from the Heart Sentiment with PTI Fresh Snow ink and embossed with white embossing powder.  I finished with a star punched from silver metallic paper and some adhesive silver balls to accent the tree.

I hope you find inspiration.

Masculine Owl Greeting

I decided to use the papers left over on my work table for another masculine card for this week's Hero Arts challenge.  I also incorporated the Off Color challenge from the Order of the Opus Gluei to use colors that you normally shy away from.  I'm usually not one to choose primary colors, but I really like how these shades of red, blue, and yellow work together.  And, the great sketch is from CPS.

 

The red background is embossed with one of my new QuicKutz embossing folders.  I curved the sentiment from Hero Arts Card Messages to fit inside the circle.  The owl, cloud and smiles are all from the Bird Greetings set.  I finished by knotting and fraying some red twill.

Popular Science Gratitude

The challenge at the Hero Arts Blog this week is to make a masculine card.   I combined that challenge with Kazan's Sketch #27 at 2 Sketches 4 You and Sharon's Stamp Simply Challenge #88 to use red, white & blue.

 

I stamped the Hero Arts Collage Thank You and Gratitude in Blue Iris Chalk ink and clear embossed the images on a want ad page from the August 1950 issue of Popular Science Magazine.  I love the natural aging of the paper.  Another page from the magazine is used for the background.  I sponged some brown ink around the red card base.

The key is painted with Royal Red Shimmerz glitter paint.  I finished with a scrap of leather-like textured paper and some bailing twine that I stole from my husband's work bench in the garage.

Sparkle Holiday

Today's SCS Featured Stamper is Mercy from Lord Have Mercy.  I chose to be inspired by a card she did for one of my Inspiration Challenges.  I changed the panel sizes based on the size of my Hero Arts Collage Season's Greetings; omitted the piercing and brads; and changed the papers and colors.

 

The collage was colored with various Sakura sparkle pens.  I finished by paper piecing the Peace on Earth ring in the collage and adding a pearl brad.

Raspberry Bloom

My friend Lauren created an amazing card using Sketch 06 from a new to me sketch challenge blog, Unscripted Sketches.  I decided to use this week's Sketch 07 with Dawn's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #7.

I tried to stay true to only the three colors in my design, although I kept trying to add some white or black.  The flower is layered punched scallops, punched flowers and Primas with a jeweled brad and several mylar leaves.

The celery background is embossed with a new QuicKutz Embossing folder (lines and dots).

 

I finished with five rows of punched diamond scallops from raspberry fizz and Memory Box DP.  The sentiment is from a a cute new set from American Crafts called Sentiments.

Peace on Earth ... and Beyond

My Dad is here for a weekend visit.  He's working his way through the "things I wish my Dad would fix for me" list ... woo hoo ... I love it. 

While he was outside caulking the seal where the chimney connects to the house, I stole a little studio time to create a card using Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge and Laura's Sketch #26 at 2 Sketches for You.

I was inspired by his cute little toy to use my Blue Alien from Stampabilities.  He is colored with colored pencils.

 

The yellow star paper is DCWV All About Boys stack; border is EK Success Dotted Wave; and the red jewels are some cell phone bling.  The red cardstock is stamped with Cornish Heritage Farms Paint Spots backgrounder.  The sentiment is one of my favorites from Catslife Press, punched with the word window punch.  I think this will be a holiday card for one of my wackier friends.